Metallica to become first ever major metal band to play Saudi Arabia

NME

Metallica have announced their final show of 2023 which will take place at a festival in Saudi Arabia next month.

• READ MORE: Metallica live in Amsterdam: still the greatest heavy metal band around

The band will be headlining the opening night of the three-day Soundstorm festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 14. Metallica took to their official Facebook page to share the announcement of their final 2023 gig.

“We’re not done with 2023 just yet, as an amazing opportunity has just come our way to perform at a major festival that we have never played in a part of the world we rarely get to visit,” they wrote. “We’re excited to announce that on Thursday, December 14 we’ll be the first hard rock band to ever play at MDLBeast’s Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”

Other artists set to perform at the festival include Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown, H.E.R., and Black Eyed Peas.

The show in Saudi Arabia will mark the first time James Hetfield and Co. play the West Asian country. It also makes them the first major metal act to perform at a public event in the country. Per Consequence of Sound, Metallica first played a middle eastern country back in 2011 at Etihad Park in Abu Dhabi.

Metallica’s next shows as part of their ‘M72’ world tour will be the European leg which is set to kick off in May 2024. Later on in the year, the band will make their way to the US to play a string of headlining dates. Visit here for tickets.

Though the band are making history, performing in Saudi Arabia has been controversial.

Recently, Rod Stewart revealed that he turned down a big offer to perform in Saudi Arabia because of the country’s human rights issues.

The rock legend was offered what may have been the biggest money sum of his career to bring his show to the Middle East but declined due to the kingdom’s discrimination against women, LGBTQ+ people and the press.

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“I’m grateful that I have a choice whether or not to perform in Saudi Arabia. So many citizens there have extremely limited choices… women, the LGBTQ community, the press. I’d like my choice not to go… to shine a light on the injustices there and ignite positive change,” said Steward to the Daily Mirror.

This is not the first time Stewart has used his “moral compass” to turn down a performance. He previously revealed that he turned down almost £1million to perform as part of the Qatar World Cup, because “it’s not right”

Last year, Dua Lipa denied rumours that she was to perform at the opening ceremony of the Qatar World Cup and called on Qatar to “fulfil all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup.”

England manager Gareth Southgate promised that his players will speak out about human rights abuses during the tournament. “We have always spoken about issues we think should be talked about, particularly the ones we feel we can affect.”

“Regarding the LGBT community, we stand for inclusivity and we are very, very strong on that. We think that is important in terms of all our supporters,” he added.

Elsewhere, Joe Lycett urged David Beckham to end his partnership with the World Cup. Lycett criticised Beckham for his reported £10million sponsorship deal with Qatar and offered to donate £10,000 of his own money to queer charities if Beckham ended the sponsorship before the tournament started.

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